Furnace



March 27, 1962 R. E. SAMPSON 3,026,826

FURNACE Original Filed Oct. 11, 1957 .('\v K J KH INVENTOR. /7 Zzvzdrj Z 64729 5072 United States Patent 3,020,826 Patented Mar. 27, 1962 fine 3,0263% FURNACE Richard E. dampson, Birmingham, Mich, assignor to Bigelow-Liptak Corporation, a corporation of Michigan Continuation of appiication Ser. No. 639,550, Oct. 11, 1957. This application Apr. 15, 1959, Ser. No. 806,732 2 Claims. (Cl. 110-7) This invention relates to cell furnaces for burning moist fuel such as bagasse.

It is the object of the invention to provide an improved arrangement for furnishing cooling and combustion air to the cells of furnaces of the above type.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section through one cell of the improved bagasse furnace, the boiler structure being shown in phantom lines; and

FIGURE 2 is a section taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1.

The bagasse furnace structure shown herein uses prin ciples illustrated in my US. Patent 2,694,370 and reference may be had to it for additional details of methods of construction. Thus, each of the three horizontally spaced, in-line cells 1, 3, and 5 respectively of the present furnace is constructed of mechanically interlocked individual tile components 7. These are arranged in horizontal courses which, above the bottom three courses, are preferably circular as clearly seen in FIG. 2. The tile are tapered so that the widest portion is on the outside thus enabling them to be held tightly in circular position by retaining rods 9 extending around them and fitting in suitable grooves in their outer peripheries. The bottom courses of tile adjacent the ash removal door 11 are more or less U-shaped in cross section (not shown) and the tile can be held in place by a retaining rod expedient such as shown in my aforementioned U.S. patent. The floor of the cell is preferably formed of a suitable refractory material 13 or may be a dump-type metallic grate as described in Patent 2,694,371.

The bottom three courses of tile are formed with tuyeres 15 extending radially through them and may follow the construction set forth in my aforementioned US. patent. Air reaches the tuyeres 15 and the bottom portions of the cells from plenum chambers 17, 19, and 21 which surround the outside of the bottom four courses of tile of each of the cells 1, 3, and 5 respectively. The shape of the plenum chambers 17, 19, and 21 is seen in FIG. 2. They are defined partly by the outer casing or enclosure 23 which encases the three cells. The enclosure 23 may be formed of conventional masonry, such as red brick, and extends the full height of the cells and around the outside thereof. In order to separate the plenum chamber of each cell from the others, there are divider plates 25 which are secured to the front and rear walls of the casing by a substantially airtight joint. Across the tops of the chambers 17, 19, and 21 there is a horizontal ceiling or wall 27 which is joined closely to the circular outline of each of the individual cells and also to the enclosure 23 so it seals the plenum chamber from the space above the wall 27. Thus, combustion air under pressure can be forced into the respective plenum chambers and through the respective tuyeres 15 into the individual cells.

The space above the wall 27 is arranged so that the upper parts of the cells can be cooled by natural air convection currents. For this purpose openings 29 are provided in the casing 23 slightly above the Wall 27 which will serve as inlets for air while the higher openings 31 adjacent the tops of the cells provide outlets for air. Thus air can flow by natural convection upwardly through space 33 between the cells and the casing 23. In contrast to the plenum chamber arrangement, there is but one cooling chamber 33 for all of the cells. Located in the wall of the furnace is a sight hole 35 for viewing combustion.

In operation, the bagasse or other moist fuel is fed in through suitable chutes so that it lands in piles on floors 13. It is ignited and burned there, combustion air under pressure being forced into it through the tuyeres '15 from the plenum chambers 17, 19, and 2 1. When sufficient ash has accumulated, the doors 11 may be opened and the ash raked out of the cells, or dumped into an ash pit, if dump-type grates are installed. The hot gases rise in the cells and pass through the throats and into the boiler structure 37 where they heat the water in the boiler tu-bes.

It will be seen that the cells 1, 3, and 5 can be operated separately since their plenum chambers are separated from each other. Their upper portions, however, are joined in one common chamber 33 for cooling purposes since the divider plates 25 only extend as high as the horizontal wall 27. Thus, optimum cooling of the cell tile is obtained along with high efficiency of combustion in burning of the bagasse.

Modifications may be made in the specific structure illustrated herein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

This application is a continuation of my abandoned application Serial No. 689,550 filed October 11, 1957.

I claim:

1. In a furnace for burning large quantities of moist fuel such as bagasse, a plurality of vertically extending horizontally separated fuel burning cells, said cells having mechanically interlocked tile forming the side walls thereof, said tile being arranged in vertically superimposed horizontal courses, certain of said courses at the bottoms of said side walls having openings which communicate the space inside the side walls with the space outside the side walls, an enclosure surrounding all of said cells, said enclosure being divided into an upper space and a lower space, said lower space being divided into separate chambers for each of said cells and said separate chambers furnishing combustion air to said openings in said tile, and means providing inlet and outlet openings in said enclosure for the circulation of air through said upper space.

2. In a bagasse furnace or the like, an enclosure, tile elements forming a plurality of cells inside said enclosure and extending vertically therein, partition means extending horizontally across the enclosure to separate the upper portion of the enclosure from the lower portion of the enclosure and separating the outsides of the upper portions of said cells from the outsides of the lower portions of said cells, said partition means forming in said enclosure a large common chamber containing the upper portions of said cells, means providing vertically spaced openings in said enclosure and said common chamber to provide for the circulation of cooling air in said chamber by convection along the outsides of said cells, and divider plates in the lower portion of said enclosure extending from the bottom thereof to said partition means and providing separate plenum air chambers for the lower portions of each of said cells, and tuyere means in the lower portions of said cells for admitting air to the interiors of the cells from said air chambers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 973,879 Promenshenkel et al. Oct. 25, 1910 2,227,086 Hayter et al Dec. 31, 1940 2,602,409 Dennis July 8, 1952 2,694,370 Sampson Nov. 16, 1954 

